Generally, while a refrigerator is operating, if it is changed to a cooling mode, refrigerant, which produces cool air through heat exchange with the air around a cooling room using an evaporator in the cooling room, is sent to a compressor located in a machine room and then compressed.
Further, the refrigerant, which has a high temperature and high pressure state through the compressor, is passed through a condenser, and the heat of the refrigerant is discharged to the outside. After that, the refrigerant is liquefied and passed through a dryer, and thus, impurities and water from the refrigerant are removed. In this state, the refrigerant is passed through an expansion valve and an evaporator, thereby causing vaporization therefrom, and accordingly, the refrigerant is vaporized by removing the latent heat of vaporization from the air around the cooling room, thereby producing cool air therefrom.
The liquid refrigerant not vaporized yet is passed through an accumulator in a low temperature and low pressure state, thereby providing a refrigeration cycle in which the refrigerant circulation, during which the liquid stays and the gas is introduced again to the compressor, is repeatedly performed.
On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 1, two evaporators 110 and 120 independently control a freezer room and a cold room in a refrigerator having the above-mentioned refrigeration cycle, and a refrigerant passage valve 500 is needed to connect the two evaporators 110 and 120 to one compressor.
The refrigerant passage valve 500 is connected to a dryer 400 and serves to send the refrigerant to the two evaporators 110 and 120, respectively.
Accordingly, the refrigerant passage valve 500 includes one inlet pipe and two outlet pipes, and the two outlet pipes are connected to capillary tubes connected to the two evaporators 110 and 120.
When the outlet pipes of the refrigerant passage valve 500 and the capillary tubes of the evaporators 110 and 120 are normally connected to each other, the refrigerator operates normally, but if the connection pipes are switched, the refrigerator operates abnormally.
To prevent the connection pipes from being switched, the colors of the connection pipes correspond to each evaporator, but when the connection pipes are changed erroneously, until now, there is no method for checking the switched connection pipes.